Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Sep 01, 2012 9:02 pm Hi All,
After several years of planning and budgeting, we've finally commenced landscaping work. This is our first major landscaping effort, so we look forward to any comments and feedback. Unfortunately we're reliant on professionals on most of the hard landscaping components. Hopefully over the next few years, we can pick up basic skills and knowledge to evolve the soft elements. The style that we're after is a modern take of the traditional formal gardens. We have a very small space to work with, and an even smaller budget. The attempt is to apply the same basic principles, but on a much more smaller, read: cheaper , scale. Think of it as a poor man's Paul Bangay or Peter Fudge design, using natives and water-wise species. Completed this week are the footings for retaining walls and paved area. I'll try to post more pics as we progress. Moving clockwise from the north aspect: 1. Footings for front retaining wall and step. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2. Side gate, gravel path and future vegetable bed. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 3. Stepping stone footings at the south side. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 4. My tiny lawn area with mower strip Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 5. Pergola and retaining wall Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 2Sep 02, 2012 10:21 pm Ironically you will be on the pathway to creating a fantastic landscape. With tight constraints, you will be extremely creative. You'll have to be. The plants are really easy. Use only tube stock. Pay cash. Buy wholesale. Plant at the start of winter. Lots of free rain to water the new plants. They can establish before summer and you slash water costs in summer. Natives will lend themselves to formal planting better than nearly all exotic plants. Use the WA watercorp plant lists in the stickies at the top of this forum (The plants are sold Australia wide). Also check out good local native nurseries. Pick out your favs then source the plants in tubes. Get the soil right. It will pay for itself in a year or two. Skimp on the soil and its amendments, it will cost you. You want organic compost, sand and zeolite blended with existing soil structures. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 4Sep 03, 2012 11:53 am Good luck with the project bud! Will be following this one, out of curiosity where are you based ? That pergola is not going to fall down! Looks like you could land a helicopter on those timbers. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 5Sep 03, 2012 2:37 pm Fu Manchu The plants are really easy. Use only tube stock. Pay cash. Buy wholesale. Plant at the start of winter. Lots of free rain to water the new plants. They can establish before summer and you slash water costs in summer. Fu Manchu Natives will lend themselves to formal planting better than nearly all exotic plants. Use the WA watercorp plant lists in the stickies at the top of this forum (The plants are sold Australia wide). Also check out good local native nurseries. Pick out your favs then source the plants in tubes. Fu Manchu Get the soil right. It will pay for itself in a year or two. Skimp on the soil and its amendments, it will cost you. You want organic compost, sand and zeolite blended with existing soil structures. tengals I look forward to progress pics on this one BennyBenno Good luck with the project bud! Will be following this one, out of curiosity where are you based ? BennyBenno That pergola is not going to fall down! Looks like you could land a helicopter on those timbers. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 7Sep 06, 2012 1:17 pm I have heard that there is a wholesale nursery in Thomastown. I did not build in an estate with builders guideines etc, but I know of a few who did in the mernda area and were given a card by their developer to go to this wholesale nursery and they received a further discount. I dont know if it is strictly wholesale or not and I am sorry I cannot remember the name off the top of my head, I want to get the card off them to visit it myself - I will try and find out for you and let you know. Also the Latrobe Uni carpark market, which is on every Sunday till 1.00pm has excellent plant stalls with really cheap prices. Also the trash and treasure market in Thomastown is still held and they also have a couple of plant sellers - again really cheap prices compared to nurseries. On thing with both these markets is that you have to get there early to get the good stock - they sell out really quickly. If you have to go to a nursery try Sertels in Bridge Inn Road in Mernda - I have found them to be the cheapest compared to other nurseries in the area. Good luck with the rest of the landscaping plans - it looks fantastic and with the weather in Melboune finally starting to clear up we might all get some progress done this Spring. Site Start: 10th September, 2010 PCI : Friday 27th January, 2011. Handover: 3rd February, 2011 Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37677 Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 8Sep 09, 2012 8:58 pm Love your pergola! What kind of wood is it? And do you mind saying how much it cost you to build? Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 9Sep 12, 2012 4:05 pm ring09 I dont know if it is strictly wholesale or not and I am sorry I cannot remember the name off the top of my head, I want to get the card off them to visit it myself - I will try and find out for you and let you know. Also the Latrobe Uni carpark market, which is on every Sunday till 1.00pm has excellent plant stalls with really cheap prices. selina2106 Love your pergola! What kind of wood is it? And do you mind saying how much it cost you to build? The pergola cost us approx 8k. At the end we went with Cypress Pine. The original plan was to fabricate either structural steel beams or RHS that would then be powdercoated. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 10Sep 12, 2012 4:27 pm Bookmarking this, I too will be doing a formal garden in Melbourne...eventually. Looking forward to seeing it all eventuate! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 11Sep 12, 2012 8:57 pm ring09 I have heard that there is a wholesale nursery in Thomastown. I did not build in an estate with builders guideines etc, but I know of a few who did in the mernda area and were given a card by their developer to go to this wholesale nursery and they received a further discount. I dont know if it is strictly wholesale or not and I am sorry I cannot remember the name off the top of my head, I want to get the card off them to visit it myself. Plantmark on Mahoneys Rd. Porter Davis clients have a deal with them, so do some developers, but they're open to the public on specified weekends. I get an email shortly before. You don't need a card. Just ask someone to let you know when... Personally, I don't think they're all that cheap. Know your prices before you go. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 12Sep 13, 2012 10:34 am Cheapest way to go with plants is to use tube stock. They establish far far quicker than more mature larger container plants. Plenty of trials/studies show tube stock plants overtake larger container plants within 12 months and are aften far more healthy. I now use tubes whenever possible. Plant them in autumn/winter and water them in, go inside for winter and when you come out in spring they will be as big as the more expensive larger container plant at a 1/4 of the cost. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 13Sep 13, 2012 12:51 pm Week 3 Progress
- Retaining walls raised, waterproofing done. -Drainage works completed. - Side gate assembled. - Garden edging installed. Next steps are rendering of vertical surfaces, soil prep for turf, topping for gravel path, and lay pavers. Work is expected to resume again early october as we wait for the granite pavers to arrive. Here's some pics. 1. Front Retaining Wall and Path 2. Side Gate 3. Gravel Path 4. Pergola and Planting Bed Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 16Sep 18, 2012 4:07 pm kek Personally, I don't think they're all that cheap. Know your prices before you go. BeatrixKiddo Cheapest way to go with plants is to use tube stock. tengals are you planning on rendering yourself? grhyso Did you weld the gate frame yourself or is it one of adjustable kits from bunning? Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 17Oct 14, 2012 3:41 pm Any updates,looking forward to see what you've done. Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 18Oct 15, 2012 9:15 pm There's been a bit of a delay with the pavers, so work has effectively halted in the past 3 weeks. The good news is our granite pavers finally arrived this morning. We're very excited indeed. These will look much lighter when they are dry and cleaned. Planter box capping is done along with base coat for render. They are exactly seating height, reducing the need to squeeze in outdoor furniture such a narrow space. I'm thinking a deck chair or two should suffice. Mower strip edging is also laid. Notice soil prep has been done for the turf. Organic compost, zeolite, and lawn mix cultivated down to 300-400mm. Applied some gogo juice, seamungus and molasses to get things going. A couple resident worms has been spotted too. Re: Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 19Nov 08, 2012 4:58 pm Update: Hard landscaping is almost complete. Vertical surfaces are now rendered. No plants though, the only soft landscaping completed are the small turf area at the rear. There's still a lot of work to do. Next steps for us are lighting, irrigation and soil prep for all garden beds. Hopefully next autumn we'll look to start some planting. 1. Pergola 2. Turf. We decided to lay Sapphire Buffalo due to the aspect and shade. 3. Lilydale Topping. 3. Front retaining wall. Build Thread - Modern Formal Garden on a Budget 20Nov 08, 2012 5:55 pm Looking great !!! Building again . . with Redink Pre-start 04/12 Keys - 03/13 Finishing off. . . Painting/Floor Tiles/Carpet - 04/13 Walk In Robe/Lighting/Blinds and Moving 05/13 Gates/Front Landscaping / Pool 05/13 Coming back to your old stomping grounds, huh? Renovations on a budget can be quite the journey. It's like giving your house a new lease on life. The twist of not knowing… 1 3457 Hi, Apologies - I know there is plenty out there on this but struggling to put together the puzzle. We're planning our garage/external laundry to master bedroom and… 0 10924 |